Same Side of the Coin
by suzukipot
Summary: Alternate ending to the book. Instead of setting the island on fire and being rescued Jack and his tribe take Ralph as prisioner. To avoid being tortured Ralph decides to fake joining Jack's tribe but this isn't as easy as it sounds. Slowly, Ralph finds himself becoming a savage. If you squint at this story really hard you'll see some Jalph.
1. Chapter 1

The ginger's hands gripped his stone throne until he was white-knuckled. His cool blue eyes scanned his savages until they rested on his second in command.

"Tomorrow," he growled, looking at the others reactions. They all feared them. Well...almost everyone, at least. "Tomorrow...we recruit."

"Recruit who, chief," Roger piped up. "Fatty?"

Jack snarled at the mention of the fat boy, losing all composure. "No you fucking twat! Rover! I want the blonde!"

Roger raised a thick eyebrow quizzically. "Ralph? Why do ya want him? 'e's no good. He'll just get in the way. We should do 'im."

Jack shook his head. "No. He's useful. Stubborn little bugger, but useful still."

"But he'll never join us," Roger rebutted. "He's too...good."

Jack's face wrinkled. "Then I'll force 'im!"

He stood and jammed his spear into the ground. Roger fell silent. "All of you get ready. I need you all for this."

The others nodded before dispersing to prepare.

Jack was covered in warpaint. Red and brown clay coated him with white streaks running down his body. His choir hat perched on top of his head, his shorts tattered and sagging from the weight of his knife and the glasses. His hair was messy and long so he tied it back.

Taking up his spear Jack called out. "Everyone ready?!"

"Almost chief," came the reply.

After some impatient waiting the other boys revealed themselves. They all looked respectable, would make any proper chief proud. They bounded out of their rocky home. As they came to the cliff's edge they could see two bodies approach.

Jack's heart skipped a beat and his stomach twisted into a tight knot as he knew who it was. When they got close enough to properly make out Jack could see that Ralph was holding the pink, glossy symbol. That thing sickened him. It diminished his authority.

They stopped and Ralph muttered something to Piggy, giving him the conch as he stayed behind and Ralph stepped up, holding a spear of his own.

"I'm calling an assembly."

There was a mixture of laughter and jeers. However the blonde continued, unabashed.

"I've come to see about the fire," his eyes scanned over Jack and rested on the glasses, "And about Piggy's specs."

"You really think you're going to get either of those things," Jack inquired rhetorically. He held up the glasses, taunting. "Fatty's never getting his specs back."

Ralph flushed as if some great injustice had been said. "You thief! We'd have given you fire if you'd asked for it." He turned darker. "You could have had fire whenever you wanted. But you didn't. You came sneaking up like a thief and stole Piggy's glasses!"

This outburst sparked the animosity between the two, setting it ablaze with the intensity of a million forest fires. Jack quickly climbed down to Ralph's level on the rock and pointed the blunt end of his spear in his chest, ignoring his hunters protests and curiosities.

"I'm not a thief!"

Ralph replied by brandishing his own spear on the defense. "Yes you are. You're a beast and a swine and a bloody, bloody thief!"

Roger toyed with a rock on the cliff, his mind racing as he watched the event, almost unable to continue hearing the blue eyed boy talk about his chief like this.

"Ralph—remember what we came for. The fire. My specs."

Reluctantly, Ralph lowered his spear. After a few moments, Jack did the same.

"Listen. We've come to say this. First you've got to give back Piggy's  
specs. If he hasn't got them he can't see. You aren't playing the game—"

More laughter. Jack's laugh was loud and condescending. "You think you can tell me what to do?!" He snarled, disgusted in the fact that Ralph was acting like he didn't know him whatsoever.

Ralph looked him in the eyes. It was a look that would make anyone submissive tremble in their spot. "Yes. Yes I do. I'm your chief, you elected me-"

Scoffs echoed the mountain as Roger messed with the rock with his foot, his eyes resting on Piggy, a sick thought invading his mind.

"Let me speak," Piggy said, holding up the conch. He took a half step forward and squinted up at the painted, naked savages. "I got this to say. You're acting like a crowd of kids."  
The booing and hissing that erupted from the gallery did not deter the fat boy. "Which is better-to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like  
Ralph is?"

Yelling. Loud, almost eardrum breaking yelling as Ralph and Jack screamed at each other. Yet in all of this noise even they heard the distinct noise of rock scraping against earth. And then Ralph saw the mighty rock tumble down and strike Piggy in the head. The conch flew up and he fell back, his body flung out to the sea.

Ralph's eyes widened. Everything was silent until the conch hit the ground and broke into a million glassy shards. Then cheers and jubilant cries burst from the boys throats. And all Ralph knew to do at that moment was run.

So he ran.

He ran off the cliff and to the ground. He sped through the jungle, the creepers and moss hitting his aching feet. Spears brandished, Roger and Jack led the group, wild, crazed, shining in their eyes. Ralph ran to the beach, not really knowing where to go.

Jack ran faster, going ahead of Roger, clearly wanting to capture Ralph himself. He dropped his spear to the ground and reached out when he was in arms distance from the blonde. He was so close he could practically taste him.

He pounced and toppled atop of him, atop the sandy beach. They rolled with Jack stopping him and pinning him down forcefully. Ralph squirmed under the ginger's grasp, which only made Jack tighten his grip. The others caught up, brandishing their spears.

"Let me go, let me go," Ralph squealed.

Jack's heart beat faster. It was like hunting a pig, a very noisy, feisty pig.

"Be civil! Don't kill me!"

Jack gave a very hollow, bellowing laugh, both at the notion of acting civilized and the notion of killing the blonde.

"Oh don't worry Rover I'm not going to kill you."

Ralph stopped and looked Jack in the eye, flushing pink at the use of his surname. "You're...you're not? Then wha-what are you going to do to me?"

"I'm going to make you a hunter."

Ralph's eyes widened. "Never."

Jack's grip tightened. "How cute. You think you have a choice."

Snapping his fingers Roger obediently trotted over, his spear aimed directly above Ralph's heart.

"You join or you die like your batty little friend."

Ralph's eyes flickered between Jack and the spear. He took a deep breath. "I'd rather die than join your sham of a tribe."

Jack's smirk faded and turned to noticeable worry as Ralph closed his eyes and went limp, ready to accept his fate. A sadistic gleam twinkled in Roger's eyes as he looked at Jack for the signal.

"No," Jack shouted, getting off of Ralph and jerking him up. "We're keeping him! He's ours! To do with what we please!"

Roger was displeased. "What's the point o' keeping him? You're torturer."

"You can torture him too, if you want, if he doesn't become one of us."

Roger's face lit up while Ralph's appeared sunken with a mix of shock and worry painted in bold expression. It almost made Jack feel bad. Almost.

"Come on," he growled, leading Ralph back to Castle Rock.

When they got there he lead Ralph to a small cave and pushed him in.

"These'll be your stomping grounds now."

A brief look around the cave revealed a full coconut shell, cooked pig's meat, a bed of furs and a hole in the roof. Ralph slouched.

His look made Jack frown. "Hey, stop looking like that! What's your problem? I let you live!"

Ralph muttered. "I'd rather die than be a savage."

"Stop saying that," Jack growled. "Stop saying that!You're a savage now! You're mine! You're...," he trailed off, flustered red and looked away from Ralph.

"You can torture me all you want but I won't be a no good, dirty, low life savage." His eyes held a defiant glint, something Jack so desperately wanted to take away.

Jack reached for golden locks, grabbing fist fulls. Ralph gulped and looked Jack in the eye, noticing the fire burning beneath ocean blue irises. Jack took his spear and lightly ran it across Ralph's neck.  
"Maybe I should just kill you then. I think your head would be a perfect offering for the beast."

"You're nutters. There's no beast, except for you."

Jack snarled and jerked Ralph's head back forcefully. "I'm no beast. I'm a hunter."

"You're a murderer. You murdered Simon and Roger murdered Piggy."

"What did either of them have that I don't," Jack screeched, voice cracking. "Why did you choose them instead of me?!"

Ralph cringed. "They were compassionate! And kind! A-And smart...They weren't bloody, beastly savages like you are!"

Jack let go of his hair and punched Ralph in the gut. Ralph fell to the ground, the air being sucked out of him.

"You just had to choose them over me. We were friends until you decided to be 'Mr. Leader.' "

Jack kicked him in the ribs.

"You couldn't just let me be leader!"

"You're...you're a...shite leader."

"Bullocks. I'm a perfect leader."

A weak cough was Ralph's only response.

"Hmph. Not that any of it even matters. You're mine now."

Ralph growled, not liking being referred to as if he were a thing. Jack smirked. He liked to irritate the boy. It wasn't often that he got a reaction from Ralph.

"No resistance... an island of my own. Paradise."

"This isn't paradise. This is Hell on earth."

Jack bunted him with the blunt end of his spear. "Don't talk out of term."

Ralph rubbed his now swelling cheek and fumed. "Don't tell me what to-"

Jack turned the spear around and scraped it down Ralph's bare back.

"What was that, Ralph?"

A cry lodged itself in Ralph's throat.

Jack stopped. "That's what I thought."

Ralph rested his head down on the cold, gray, rocky ground. Thin lines of red trickled down his back. Sharp, stinging pain made him utter a small groan.

"I think that's enough for today."

Ralph heard Jack turn, walk away and push something against the entrance. After a while Ralph lifted his head. The room was dark, a rock pushed up against the entrance. As he looked up through the hole he saw the sun setting.

Thoughts started to run through his head. Piggy's death... he wondered if the boy's body was still overlooking the ocean, if his eyes were glinted with disdain at the crowd of kids. Ralph's brains were gone.

Ralph was done. He was weak, like Piggy. He was going to die, like Simon. Before he knew it, tears spilled down his cheeks.

He was crying. His lip quivered and, with little resistance, he broke down crying. With no one to see him he cried. He felt shameful.

'Leaders don't cry,' he told himself.

But shame was being drowned in a sea of grief and agony. After crying for what felt like hours his eyes were red and swollen. Snot dripped out of his nose, the backs of his arms coated. He felt like a child.

'I am a child.'

And then something in his brain clicked. He was a child. They were children. He could try to...but...no.

He wasn't smart. There was no way that could work, Maybe though...maybe if...He drummed his fingers on the ground and bit his lip. This could very well work.

Jack returned at late night. It was time to put his plan in action. Ralph stood, the pain in his back making him twitch.

"Jack."

Jack eyed him carefully. Ralph's mouth twitched into a very forced smile.

"Jack," he repeated, softer, feeling like he was going to vomit.

"What," Jack questioned, put off by Ralph's attitude.

"I...I want to join your tribe."

Jack could not hold back his jubilance. "Jolly good news! Hold on a second Rover, I've got to get something."

Jack left the cave. Ralph cautiously approached the edge and his heart dropped when he saw that Jack was still in view. He returned with an armful of paints and clay.

"I'll call a feast for your joining. It's dark now, perfect for a feast. This is great Rover. We can finally lead as one."

A snarky comment about how the two could have led together from the start almost escaped his lips but he bit his tongue. Jack scooped some clay up and spread it across Ralph's cheeks. Ralph could smell the distinct smell of grapes and dirt and he almost cringed as he felt the cool touch of it spread across his cheeks, Jack's fingers an all too familiar touch. When he was done Jack examined his handiwork.

"Perfect," he purred. "You're ready."

Grabbing Ralph by the forearm (gentler than the last time, Ralph noted) Jack led him to the beach. It was dark out and a large bonfire burned not too far away. It was the exact same spot they had been when Simon died.

The reopened scars that were his memories made his bottom lip quiver but he'd be damned if he was going to cry in front of Jack. The others looked up as Jack called for their attention and explained how Ralph had decided to join. Roger looked skeptic, Maurice raised an eyebrow, Bill gave an approving nod and Robert shrugged nonchalantly. The twins looked mortified, unbelieving that their great leader had fallen to boys armed with sticks.

Ralph tried to convey a look of hope at them but it didn't come across. They looked as mortified as ever. Then, Ralph felt Jack's hand on his shoulder.

"Go stand next to the fire Rover. We have a special dance planned out just for you."

Ralph was hesitant, but he stood by the fire regardless. Staring into it he looked at the dancing embers. They flicked around. Fire...fire had been important when they first arrived.

Now...it seemed arbitrary. He thought he'd seen a ship pass by earlier but...rescue seemed like a foreign concept now. Ralph's zoning out made him unaware of the whooping and dancing going on around him. All around him were savages waving around lit torches like they were performers.

They danced around in a circle, around him, around the bonfire, stirring it so that it blazed ferociously. Ralph felt so compelled to join them. Dark clouds rolled overhead. Jack stepped towards Ralph and the dancing stopped. Ralph could hear the thundering in the sky as Jack raised his torch and then jammed it into the ground.

Ralph was enthralled. Jack approached him, a mere few inches away. Ralph's heart started beating like a hummingbird.

"Ralph..."

Ralph gulped, not knowing what to expect. Jack's voice was devoid of it's usual guard. It sounded sweet, kind and gentle.

"You're now my co-chief."

The whooping and chanting riled up again as rain started to pour overhead, extinguishing their torches. The boys long hair clung to their faces as Jack smiled.

"You can come back to my cave, if you want."

"I...uh...of course."

They walked back to Castle Rock. As they got in there Ralph looked around. Jack's cave was luxurious. There were carved out windows, crude clay paintings on the walls and spears littered around.

Ralph briefly considered using one against Jack, but the thought was quickly diminished. Jack yawned, stretched and shook out his hair, drying it like a dog. Ignoring the slickness of the rest of his body he lay down on his large bed of furs. Ralph watched him.

"Go to bed when you want," Jack mumbled.

Ralph opened his mouth and almost questioned where he would be sleeping until he saw another, slightly smaller, bed.

"It was Roger's," Jack mumbled, as if he could see Ralph with his back turned, "But I kicked him out."

Ralph's eyes widened. "What? You kicked Roger out?"

"Out from the cave, not from the tribe," Jack revised. "He'd go bonkers if I kicked him out of the tribe."

Ralph breathed a small breathe of relief before laying down. He turned to his side, thinking. He honestly couldn't say that he hated his little "initiation."

'What the hell is wrong with you,' his conscience, or whatever the hell the voice in his head was, argued with him.

'Well...I didn't,' he admitted.

'Are you saying you want to be a savage?!'

He rubbed the clay paint on his face and waited to answer.

'No.'

The voice didn't answer and Ralph reasoned that he'd won his inner argument.

'Silly thought, really. I don't like this...I just...need to fake it. Until I find some way to get rescued.'

He rolled to his side and felt his eyes flutter shut.


	2. Chapter 2

Ralph did not awaken on his own the next day, instead he was awoken by Roger. He was gripping the front of his tattered gray-white shirt, his face a mere few inches away, his hot, rank breath making Ralph want to gag.

"What's your problem, blondie," he demanded to know.

Ralph's eyes flickered to the other bed. Jack wasn't there.

"Wha...what? What do you mean," Ralph inquired, still groggy despite the rude wake up call.

"What right do you think you 'ave, coming in 'ere, replacing me at my rightful position?!"

Ralph pushed Roger off of him and sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Look...Jack picked me to be co-chief, OK? Get over it. You're still his friend or...whatever."

As Ralph inspected the raven haired boy he noticed that he looked stunned, offended even.

"I don't want Jack to be my friend," was his vague, cold reply.

Ralph raised an eyebrow quizzically (especially at the way Roger emphasized the word 'friend') but didn't press him. Roger sighed.

"You're just lucky I don't want to make Jack mad. Or else I'd skin ya like a boar."

He ran an imaginary spear across Ralph's neck, giggling like a madman as he stood and walked out. Ralph sat in dumbed silence. He wasn't phased by the threat, just confused. What had Roger meant by that little performance?

He shook his head. 'No time to think about it.'

Suddenly, Jack trotted in, stopping in his tracks when Ralph looked at him. He was holding some pig's meat and a coconut shell overflowing with water.

"Oh, you're up." He approached Ralph, squatted down and set the supplies in front of him. "I took the liberty of getting you some food. Maybe we can go hunting after afternoon tea."

He gave Ralph a friendly, hopeful little smile. Ralph took up the coconut shell and drank, water dribbling down his chin as he realized how parched he was.

"Maybe." He set the shell down and wiped the water at his chin away with the back of his hand.

Jack sat down, crossing his legs. Withdrawing the knife from his pouch he cut at the pig's meat to break it into smaller chunks. Ralph noted how blood stained the knife was. After cutting off a sizable chunk he offered it to Ralph.

Ralph cringed a bit. Pigs were so...disgusting to him. He couldn't bare the thought of eating them, especially knowing that Jack hunted them, that he killed them so violently, that he'd probably slaughtered another pregnant sow. Then again, Jack was looking at him with a raised eyebrow, questioning, judging Ralph for not partaking.

"Uh, I'm not hungry right now."

Jack placed the meat in Ralph's hands anyway. "Eat, dammit."

Ralph gave a little sigh before nibbling on the charred meat. It wasn't bad, certainty better than the fruits he was accustomed to eating, but it was a taste mingled with shame and blood lust. When he couldn't eat anymore he set it down and watched Jack. He devoured the pig carcass as if he were some crazed beast.

It was with a sad, almost tragically funny realization that he reminded himself that Jack was a beast. He was evil and vile and ugly. And yet, Ralph was drawn to him. He was drawn to the tribe, to the savage way of life. He was seeing how fun it was to misbehave, to act like there were no consequences for his actions.

His conscience, which was quickly becoming an annoying little thing, reprimanded him but he ignored it. Jack dropped little bits of bone out of his hands, wiped his mouth of bloody meat and gave a contented sigh. Ralph looked at him and Jack looked back before standing up.

"Well, I've got to go check on what's happening with the tribe. You can come if you want."

Ralph mulled it over then nodded and stood, following Jack out. Jack looked over his unruly followers. Roger snuck up on him, grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around.

"Oy! Chief! I want an explanation!"

Jack's eyes narrowed and turned to annoyed anger. "Explanation? For what?"

"For why 'e's your co-chief," Roger pointed an accusing finger at Ralph, gaining the attention of his tribe mates.

Ralph shrunk away and took a half step away from the two, watching their argument unfold before him.  
"Because he's worthy," Jack stated evenly.

"But I'm more worthy," Roger pleaded, slapping a hand to his chest.

"Obviously not."

Roger flushed dark, his eyes glowering. He muttered something that Ralph couldn't hear but made Jack go scarlet and the others give a few surprised mutters. Roger turned and stomped away, but not before bumping shoulders with Ralph, almost making him fall over.

Jack scowled and muttered some rather nasty things about Roger as he walked away. Ralph looked between Roger and Jack.

"What'd he say?"

Jack looked down at Ralph and shook his head. "Nothing. Just ignore the little git. He's just upset because he's not co-chief anymore."

Ralph bit his lip in concern. Jack put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry. He's not going to hurt you. Not so long as I'm around."

Jack smiled, which made Ralph smiled in turn.

'He really is good to his tribe.'

"Hey, come on, let's go hunt."

Ralph nodded and the rest of the tribe watched as Jack tossed Ralph a spear and the two bounded away for a pig-run. Ralph hadn't hunted since they had first come up the mountain. He'd commented on his appearance then, about how he had picked up the nasty habit of biting his nails (he still did that sometimes, sometimes until they bled.) and how accustomed he had gotten to his appearance, to the other boys appearance.

Then he saw the pig. His heart had skipped a beat and he'd thrown his spear at it. It had squealed and he had felt elated. He wondered how he would feel now.

Jack placed his hand on Ralph's shoulder, stopping him. Ralph looked up at him. Jack was fully intent on his prey, a large black boar.

"Follow my lead," the ginger mumbled, taking some tentative steps forward. Ralph followed.

Being as quiet as he could Jack positioned his spear to throw it at the unsuspecting pig. Then Ralph unknowingly stepped on a twig, breaking it with a loud snap. The pig squealed and ran away. Jack's jaw dropped, his spear lowered, a look of disbelief on his face.

Disbelief that turned to anger. He whipped around and got in Ralph's face.

"You scared the pig away!"

Ralph cringed and backed up, thrown off by the sudden change in attitude. "I...I'm sorry Jack!"

"You idiot! You're a shite hunter!"

Ralph winced as Jack made a motion like he was going to strike him however his hand merely twitched and he lowered it instead, turned around and stomped away. Ralph's breathing slowed and the pounding in his ears lessened. He straightened his back and gulped. In the distance he could hear frantic squeals mixed in with Jack's blood lust induced cries.

That outburst scared Ralph, made him fear the ginger all over again. It reminded him just what a savage beast he was.

"Hey Ralph-"

"Rover!"

The pair of identical voices made him jump, even though he already knew who it was. Turning around, he was greeted by two sandy blonde haired, blue eyed twins with scars and cuts littering their bodies.

"Sam! Eric! Bleeding hell...scared the living daylights out of me."

The twins smiles fell a bit.

"Oh. Sorry-"

"Ralph."

Ralph relaxed and frowned. He hated how the two finished each others sentences. It was easier to think of the two as one entity.

"So, how do you like-"

"Being Jack's co-chief?"

Ralph opened his mouth, then shut it. He had no idea what to say. He had no idea how to feel.  
"I...," he cleared his throat, "real ace, it is."

The twins passed unconvinced glances at each other before Ralph changed the subject.

"How'd you get these?" He pointed at their cuts and scars.

"Roger did this to us-"

"Just this morning. Seemed right mad 'bout something."

Ralph offered a small grunt of anger. Roger. "What did that git say earlier when he was talking to Jack?"

"Something about-"

"Not being with Jack anymore. How he was just-"

"Using him."

Ralph rolled his eyes and gave an exasperated sigh as he heard some rustling from the forest. "Hey, you two get on, that's Jack. He'll burst his jugular if he sees I'm talking to you."

Giving synchronized nods the twins bounded off. Ralph turned around to see Jack lugging a pig across his back, blood stained and grunting.

"Help me with this, will ya?"

He seemed irritated but Ralph couldn't tell if it had something to do with him or the back breaking, easily 20 l.b.s. boar on his wide shoulders. Obediently, Ralph obliged. Together they both carried the catch back to the tribe.

"Woah, Ralph! Did you and Jack catch that all by yourselves," Bill asked, eyeing the catch with envy in his eyes.

"What? N-,"

Before Ralph could correct Bill others drowned him out, praising he and Jack for their gain. Jack smirked, his ego inflating like a balloon.

"Yes, yes, I know, I did good. Uh, Rover did too."

He flashed a grin at Ralph, who looked back, the corners of his mouth twitching into an unprecedented smile. He liked it when Jack praised him and Jack knew it too. Jack could manipulate the blonde boy like putty in his hands. He could mold him into the perfect savage.  
"Really it was Rover who did most of the work. Top notch hunter, he is."

Jack leaned against a rock and watched, as expected, as the crowd closed in on Ralph, giving him praise and pats on the back. Jack smirked.

'Too easy.'

Much easier to manipulate than Roger had been. However, unlike Roger, Ralph needed to be pushed more. And Jack knew just how to do it.

"Let's have a feast," Jack proclaimed. "In Ralph's honour!"

The boys cheered in unanimous agreement and Ralph's grin couldn't have stretched across his face anymore. That night the tribe prepared a feast for Ralph. He was catered to, allowed to sit on Jack's throne and was given a crown. Ralph felt like a chief, like a king.

His pride was getting the best of him. He relaxed on the throne, watching the boys preform their little dances. Then the pig's meat was cut and cooked and Ralph ate like a king too.

Then Jack offered him his painted hand. "Join me Rover. Join us."

In an instant painted hand met painted hand, the other picking up a lit torch. Then Ralph was dancing about with the chief and he heard his own voice in the throng, roaring with as much beastly savagery as the other choirboys were.

As much as the hunters were.

As much as the savages were.

And in that moment Ralph knew he was a beast.


End file.
